Why the Elevate Fellowship?

Alumni overwhelmingly say their corps experience accelerates and enhances their careers for the rest of their lives, no matter what career field they ultimately pursue. But at Teach For America, our support doesn’t end after the corps. Over the past several years we have received consistent feedback that alumni in our region want intentional development around becoming organizational leaders. In Chicago-Northwest Indiana, we want to prepare our strong, diverse alumni community to take on these roles, and give them access to opportunities at mission-aligned organizations.

From this, the Elevate Fellowship was born. Facilitated in partnership with The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, this program will be focused on Brand, Access, and Skill. We believe by focusing on these areas and tying them together with the thread of Leading with Integrity, we will help craft passionate, determined, and successful leaders.

Teach For America’s Elevate Fellowship includes an nine-session, externally facilitated module on Leading with Integrity. This module will ground the application of management skills in the foundational skills of self-awareness and character, all in a peer-to-peer setting.

Candidate Profile

SENIOR/MID LEVEL LEADERS

Candidates are currently senior to mid level leaders. This is defined as a non-school based role that has a meaningful impact on students and communities in an organization that is 1 to 3 steps removed from the system/executive level leader in the region. Typically between 7-12 years of professional experience.

ALIGNED PROGRAM FOCUS

Since the fellowship focuses on Brand, Access, and Skill, with development of Leading with Integrity throughout, we want candidates to be able to gain value from the program and bring value to the program.

SUPPORT FROM MANAGER AND CURRENT ORGANIZATION

The current employer supports candidate participation in the fellowship. The candidate’s manager is willing to give hands-on opportunities to develop outside of class time and supports the candidate missing work time to attend the professional development sessions for this fellowship.

COMMITMENT TO STAYING IN CHICAGO-NorthWest Indiana

Candidates are committed to staying in this region and making a large scale impact at a mission-aligned or ed-adjacent organization.

DEDICATION TO TEACH FOR AMERICA'S DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSIVENESS lens

Candidates strive to make culturally responsive decisions and utilize TFA's DEI lens within their current and future leadership. They value the perspective of others and think about the voices that are not in the room.

WHAT DOES BRAND, SKILL, AND ACCESS MEAN?

BRAND: Create a professional brand while leveraging TFA

ACCESS: Increasing connectivity of TFA network and access to opportunity

SKILL: Develop hard skills to take on large scale projects and advance in career trajectory

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LEAD WITH Integrity?

Lead with Integrity: The Lead with Integrity theme builds on philosophies of intellectual, civic, ethical, and performance character, and personal development. Reflection and exploration throughout the fellowship will guide participants through their own process of personal development and identity exploration, working to deepen and refine both their personal and organizational purpose, and wrestle with how these convert into action within the leadership context. By understanding your values as a leader, you are able to make well thought-out decisions in difficult situations, and are able to be confident in your choices as a current and future leader in this work.